Oil prices are surging above $100 per barrel after the cartel of oil producing nations known as OPEC just announced it will keep production levels steady for now. Member nations are meeting in Vienna and say they'll meet again in three months to consider pumping more oil.

Applications for home mortgages eased last week, although demand for refinancing improved as interest rates edged down, an industry group said Wednesday. Fixed 30-year mortgage rates averaged 4.54 percent in the week, down from 4.58 percent the week before.

President Obama visits Northern Virginia Community College -- just outside Washington -- today. He's set to announce an expanded job training program aimed at boosting manufacturing.

In a U.S. appeals court in Atlanta today, the Obama administration will be defending last year's health insurance reforms. Earlier this year, a Florida judge ruled the president's Affordable Care Act overstepped the administration's authority when it mandated individuals buy health insurance.

Nintendo has unveiled its latest gaming system -- the Wii U. It won't be available for another year. But even so, analysts aren't sure it'll be enough to win back gamers from rivals such as Sony and Microsoft. The unveiling happened at the Electronic Entertainment Expo -- also known as E3 -- here in L.A.

To another new piece of technology being unveiled at a park in Hastings, Minn. It's called SonicScreen, and its purpose is to get teenagers to stop hanging out in the local park and vandalizing the playground. How will it do that? By emitting a high frequency sound that apparently can only be heard by people under 20. In fact, we're playing the sound right now. Or are we?

And finally, as anyone who's seen "Mrs. Doubtfire" knows, it can be hard finding good help. A Los Angeles entrepreneur kept hearing that complaint from friends and clients. So he started a special domestic staffing service. And now, the Rent-a-Grandma agency aims to franchise nationwide. It bills itself as the place to find carefully-screened mature women, for nannies, elder care, housekeeping and similar jobs. One of the selling points on the Rent-a-Grandma website: "Women in their 50s don't text or tweet while they're watching your kids."

You can read the rest of today's stories from the Marketplace Morning Report here.